


the slings and arrows of fate

by perfectlyrose



Series: The Femslash Collection [22]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Past Clara/Danny, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-01-25 21:46:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12541900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perfectlyrose/pseuds/perfectlyrose
Summary: Sometimes the soulmate system doesn’t work out the way it’s supposed to. That doesn’t mean you can’t fall in love and be happy though.A remix ofpull your little arrows outby nowrunalong





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nowrunalong](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nowrunalong/gifts).
  * Inspired by [pull your little arrows out](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8765443) by [nowrunalong](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nowrunalong/pseuds/nowrunalong). 



Clara tugged down the sleeve of her cardigan before straightening the papers on her desk. She had a fifteen minute break and then two more parent meetings before she could pack it in and head home to her empty flat.

She blew out a steady breath to calm herself, ruffling her fringe in the process. Just over an hour until she could escape.

She double checked the time before grabbing her keys and slipping out of her classroom. Still ten minutes to go before her next meeting and she needed some fresh air. During the day, when the building was filled to the brim with kids and other teachers, it was a lot easier to ignore the ghost haunting the corridors.

Nights like these, when things were quieter and there was less to distract her from her own thoughts, were hard.

Clara gripped her left wrist, covering the fading black letters etched there and hidden by her long sleeves. The words that were there had been said in this very building. When they still shone gold, she would have been using this break to sneak into Danny’s classroom for a chat and maybe a quick snog before getting back to dealing with parents.

But Danny was gone and even the words he’d used to introduce himself, the ones that had bloomed into glowing existence on the inside of her wrist, were disappearing.

Clara bit down on her bottom lip, ruthlessly fighting back tears as she pushed open the side door of the school. She propped it open with a bit of broken concrete and headed towards the swings.

Danny was gone, she told herself again. Her soulmate was dead and gone and not coming back, and tonight was not the night to dwell on any of it, not when she still had parent meetings to contend with. 

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn’t notice there was someone on the swings moving in gentle pendulums until she was about ten yards away. Clara watched for a moment as the blonde woman swung back and forth, eyes closed and a familiar sad expression painted on her face.

(It was one she saw when she passed a mirror unexpectedly these days.)

“Are you lonely?” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, before she could think about them, really.

The blonde opened her eyes as she dragged her feet to stop her motion. “Why would I be lonely?”

Clara looked away, trying to shake the feeling that the woman’s clear brown eyes could see straight into her soul after just a moment of acquaintance. She shrugged, sat down on the second swing. “You look sad.”

Clara scuffed the toe of her boot in the woodchips before looking back at the blonde woman. She seemed to be at a loss for words but emotions were running over her face and Clara thought she might have hit a little too close to home with her comments.

“Might be,” she said finally with a shrug of her own. “I’m fine though, really. Here to meet with my little brother’s teacher since our mum couldn’t make it and I just got a little…” she trailed off with a vague hand gesture.

“Lost in your head?”

“Yeah, exactly,” she said.

“Happens to me a lot,” Clara said, a small, self-deprecating smile on her face.

The blonde smiled at her, bright and warm -- a welcome change from the nip of the air and the slightly gloomy conversation. “Are you here for a meeting too?”

“Yeah, I’m just taking a little break. Just, you know… getting some fresh air. I should really be getting back inside though.” Clara checked her watch. Five minutes until her next meeting. The Tyler family. She really shouldn’t be late for that one, especially with how influential they were.

“Me too. My thing’s in about five minutes.”

“Well then, neither of us should be late if we get going now,” Clara said, standing up. She brushed off her skirt and waited for the other woman to stand. “I left the side door open if you want to sneak in that way with me.”

“Sounds brilliant!”

They were halfway to the door when the woman spoke again.

“So, you must teach here, yeah?”

“Yeah. Been here for about five years now. Bounced around a couple different levels and expect to do that a bit more but I’m teaching the first year kids right now.” Clara didn’t know what it was about this woman but it was remarkably easy to talk to her. She barely shut her mouth before revealing that she was teaching the younger kids because they were sure to have not met Danny, and were less likely to ask questions about her dying soulmark.

“Oh, my brother’s in first year. You wouldn’t happen to be Miss Oswald, would you?”

“Yup, that’s me!”

“Brilliant. At least neither of us will be late,” she said bumping Clara’s shoulder with her own as they approached the door.

“Got started early, even,” Clara agreed. She pulled the door open and gestured for the blonde, Tony Tyler’s older sister apparently, to go inside. She kicked the piece of concrete away from the door and let it swing closed behind her.

Once inside, they headed to room 204, Clara’s classroom, in silence. They sat down at the desk and then the blonde hit her forehead with her hand. “Oh, I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Rose. Rose Tyler.”

She extended her hand and Clara shook it, smiling. “Clara Oswald. I really should have noticed the family resemblance right away, really. He draws your family a lot.”

Rose laughed. “Yeah, I’ve seen some of those when I go over for family dinner. They’ve got them hanging on the fridge.” She leaned forward, a conspiratorial look on her face. “I don’t blame you for not recognizing me, he’s not destined to be an artist I don’t think.”

The way she scrunched up her face as she said it made Clara giggle. “I think you’re right.”

Rose grinned. “And I’m gonna be honest with you, I have no clue what I’m supposed to be doing here. My mum called me two hours ago and said she needed me to come instead of her. So, I can pass along messages but I’m not…” 

“As involved as a parent?” Clara finished when Rose trailed off.

“Yeah. Is that like, a special teacher superpower, finishing people’s thoughts?”

“If I told you I might have to kill you,” Clara said, suppressing a smile. “Trade secrets and all that.”

“I totally understand.”

They stared each other down, both struggling to keep a straight face. Rose broke first and Clara followed her into a fit of giggles.

“I can set up a call with yours and Tony’s mum if you don’t feel like you’re the best person for this meeting,” Clara said, once they’d regained their composure.

“I can do you one better. If you don’t have plans Saturday, my parents are hosting a party. You should come by. Mum would definitely make time to talk to you about Tony.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Alright, I’ll see you Saturday, then!” Rose said, rising from her chair.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Clara said with a smile, surprised to find that she really meant it. Tonight had definitely taken an unexpected turn for the better when she’d met Rose Tyler.

“Me too,” Rose replied. She slipped out the door of the classroom and Clara stared after her for a moment before turning back to her papers, still smiling slightly.

She missed Rose flying back into the room. “I’m so sorry, I completely forgot. You’ll need this to get in.”

She thrust a slightly-crumpled invitation into Clara’s hands, grinned once more and then disappeared back out the door.

Clara barely had time to read over the fancy invite and tuck it away in her bag before the last parent of the evening stepped into her classroom.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Rose couldn’t stop smiling as she drove back to her flat. She’d complained about going to Tony’s parent-teacher conference but she had not anticipated one Clara Oswald. Tony’s teacher was gorgeous and kind and had a beautiful smile.

She was honestly just a bit smitten.

She’d spotted the dark grey ink on Clara’s wrist and her heart hurt for the woman who had found her soulmate and lost them. Based on the color of the words that she hadn’t quite been able to read, it had been a couple of years since the loss.

Rose hadn’t ever  _ gotten _ the whole soulmate thing. She’d dated quite a bit but most of her partners ended up leaving her when they found their destined other half or decided that they didn’t want to make a go of it if they weren’t soulmates.

Complete rubbish in her opinion. Rose wasn’t waiting with baited breath for golden words to magically appear on her wrist.

She idly wondered how Clara felt about soulmates in the wake of losing hers. Maybe she could gauge her interest at the party on Saturday.

She smiled even wider at that thought and turned the key in the lock to enter her flat. Once inside, she dropped her bag on the floor by the door and toed off her shoes. She lost most of her clothes on the way to her room, ready to be out of her work things and get into something more comfortable.

Rose walked into her dark bedroom with just her knickers on and was about to flip the light when she realized something was glowing in the darkness. She looked down, brow furrowed in confusion and saw the words etched across her hip in a neat, cursive script.

_ “Are you lonely?” _

“Shit.”

Rose gripped the doorway so she didn’t fall over as it sunk in. Clara, the woman who already had a soulmate and had lost them, was apparently  _ her _ soulmate.

Wasn’t it just her luck to finally get a vaunted soulmate only to have it be someone who couldn’t have words that matched?

_ I didn’t want this _ , Rose thought desperately, fingers tracing over the words.  _ I wasn’t looking for a soulmate. I especially wasn’t looking for one who already  _ had _ someone. _

Clara had smiled and laughed but Rose had seen the sadness lingering behind her eyes, the loneliness that she knew all too well. The woman was obviously still in love with her lost soulmate. Rose had thought she could maybe be a distraction for a bit, have a good time with the pretty primary school teacher who had caught her attention, maybe become friends with her.

This changed everything though.

Clara Oswald was her soulmate, and Rose had no idea what to do about it.

_ Shit _ .


	2. Chapter 2

The night of the party, Rose covered her soulmark with bandages in a fit of paranoia. She wanted to see Clara again, but she didn’t want to make things awkward with the whole soulmate thing,  _ especially  _ didn’t want anyone to catch sight of the words glowing through her dress.

In the few days since the revelation of finding her soulmark, she’d done some reading on the internet and discovered that soulmarks only appeared somewhere other than the wrist when the soulmark didn’t match or wasn’t reciprocated. Rose had decided that she could still befriend Clara but she was certainly not going to put the burden of her unreciprocated soulmark on the grieving teacher.

Rose smoothed down her black dress, lingering over the place Clara’s words now lived. She took a deep breath and headed out of her flat to meet the car her parents had sent for her. Nerves were dancing in her stomach more than usual as she hoped that the teacher would actually come to the party. She’d warned Jackie that she’d invited Clara so that they could chat but hadn’t heard if she had RSVP’d or not.

Only one way to find out, she thought as the car pulled up to the mansion. Rose thanked the driver and then stepped out into the driveway. She let her fingers dance over her hip once more and then set off for the door at a quick clip. Her mum would certainly have something for her to do before the party started that could take her mind off of things.

Rose was halfway through her second glass of champagne when she saw Clara walk in the door. Her jaw about hit the floor as she took in the purple suit the teacher had donned for the occasion. Remembering that she was trying to be just friends with Clara had just become a hundred times more difficult.

Taking a deep breath, she snagged another glass of champagne and wove her way through the crowd to where Clara still lingered near the wall.

“Fancy a glass of bubbly, Miss Oswald?” Rose asked with a smile as she sidled up next to her.

Clara startled and then turned with a smile of her own. “I would, thanks. And it’s Clara, please. I start looking around for students when people call me Miss Oswald.”

“Clara then,” Rose said. She clinked her half empty glass against Clara’s. “Welcome to the party. Wasn’t sure if you were going to make it or not.”

“I did RSVP,” she said, wrinkle forming between her eyes after she took a sip of champagne.

“I’ve learned not to pester my mum for information when she’s planning an event so I just didn’t know,” Rose explained.

“Gotcha.” She flicked her eyes over Rose. “You look nice.”

“So do you,” Rose said, taking the opportunity to rake her eyes over the teacher again quickly.

“I think I tried on about six different outfits,” Clara confessed. “I didn’t actually know what was appropriate for this kind of thing.”

“Well, you nailed it. Putting everyone else to shame in that suit, really.” Rose snapped her mouth shut as she realized that she had already stepped into flirtatious territory. She took a hasty gulp of champagne to cover her slip.

“Thanks!”

They stood sipping their drinks for a moment in silence, watching the crowd of partygoers.

“So, it occurs to me now that I’m here that stealing the hostess of the party for a chat about her son’s progress at school probably isn’t the best etiquette,” Clara said.

Rose shrugged. “Mum always likes to slip away from everyone for a while anyways.” She shot a conspiratorial look towards Clara. “She says being around this many inflated egos gives her a headache.”

Clara laughed and Rose swore she felt the words on her hip tingle.

“So, what are you usually doing on a Saturday night when you’re not roped into attending fancy shindigs for impromptu parent meetings?”

“This is definitely a first,” Clara said with a laugh. Then her smile faded and Rose watched as the sadness crept back in. “Usually I’m just at home with a glass of wine and a book, honestly. Used to be more exciting but...”

She trailed off, eyes staring off into the distance. Rose knew she must be thinking about what her Saturday nights were like back when the words on her wrist still shone and her soulmate was alive and well.

“Sounds like most of my Saturday nights,” Rose said. “Although it’s usually wine and Netflix for me these days.”

“I think I always imagined the life of an heiress would be a bit more exciting,” Clara mused.

Rose shrugged. “Pretty much live the same as everyone else, just without the stress of worrying if I’ll be able to pay rent.”

“Pretty nice perk.”

“It is,” Rose agreed. “Grew up with that worry so I definitely appreciate not having it now.”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Clara looked up at Rose with curiosity. She didn’t really know much about the Tyler family, despite them being fairly prominent in London. She’d kind of assumed Rose had grown up rich but that apparently wasn’t the case.

She fidgeted with the glass in her hand, unsure whether to push the conversation forward. Rose had let it drop when Clara froze at the innocent question of what she normally did on a weekend.

(She’d remembered getting up late to find Danny making breakfast after his morning run and all the times her tea went cold while he kissed her good morning. She’d remembered the date nights they’d spent in their flat with take out and candles and a movie and the times they’d gone out to dinner or just to walk around the park hand in hand.)

Being somewhere where most people were attached at the hip to their soulmates made the skin on her wrist itch, made her want to flee, but Rose felt like a rock in the middle of the stormy sea. She felt safe for some reason and Clara wasn’t going to question it too much.

“So,” she started, “do you have parties like this often?”

“No, thank god,” Rose answered with feeling, making a face. “I might do a runner if they tried to make me come to these things more than three or four times a year.”

“Allergic to all the egos?”

“Something like that,” Rose said. “It’s all just so… fake. Everyone stands around and talks about all their charity work while wearing clothes that cost more than most people make in a month and it is just frustrating.”

She winced as she seemed to take in her words, perhaps thinking she’d said too much. “It’s also generally boring as anything but that’s secondary.”

“Sounds like good reasons not to like the parties,” Clara said. “At least you get to dress up though.”

“That and the food are the high points for sure,” Rose agreed.

“You hiding the food from me?” Clara asked, raising her eyebrows.

Rose grinned, tension Clara hadn’t even really noticed draining from her face. “Come on, we can sneak into the kitchen and get some before it starts circulating.”

“Brilliant.”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Jackie found them in the kitchen and took the opportunity to talk to Clara about Tony. Rose slipped out once they started talking, figuring Clara would find her when they were done.

Or not.

It wasn’t like Clara had any obligation to seek Rose out when there were other people to mingle with.

She pressed her fingers against her hip and then went to find another glass of champagne.

Rose was chatting with the wife of some Vitex board member when Clara walked up beside her and told her that she was needed elsewhere. They made it back to the kitchen and Clara just grinned at her while stealing another stuffed mushroom.

“You looked like you were going to fall asleep so I figured the least I could do was rescue you,” she explained.

Rose’s heart skipped a beat at the woman’s smile and she reached for a nibble herself. 

_ Friends _ , she reminded herself.  _ Just friends _ .

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

They spent the rest of the party standing on the edges of the room talking quietly. Rose tried not to notice the amount of times Clara touched her wrist (twelve) or the way she’d go quiet and then abruptly switch to a new topic when something obviously hit too close to home (five).

By the time she hugged the teacher goodbye at the door, Rose had figured out that she was never going to be able to be just friends with Clara - not when her smile made her pulse race and she was already comparing her laugh to music. Still, she could be friends with her as long as she could keep this all a secret.

She could do that.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Back in her flat, Rose flopped on her bed in just the oversized t-shirt she wore to sleep in. Stripped of her glamorous armor and all the pretence of the night, she traced the softly glowing words on her hip.

_ Are you lonely? _

_ Yes _ , Rose thought, closing her eyes as the ache in the middle of her chest threatened to swallow her whole. She’d deflected the question when Clara had asked it but here in her room with nothing but the darkness for company, she answered honestly.  _ I’m lonely and might be falling in love with the soulmate who can never be mine _ .

How was that for a kick in the teeth? She’d spent all her life scorning the soulmate system only to find out that she actually wanted to have a soulmate, wanted to have that reciprocated connection instead of this one-way yearning.

She wanted to be Clara’s soulmate just like Clara was hers but it wasn’t to be.

Rose curled up in a ball, hugging her pillow and trying to will the emptiness away as she fought back tears.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Across town, Clara fought back a smile as she settled in for the night. The evening had been rocky, what with all the things that kept reminding her of Danny, but it had been wonderful as well. It had been a long time since she’d had such a good time and that was entirely down to one Rose Tyler who was nothing like she would have expected, just knowing she was the Vitex heiress. She was down to earth and kind and had a way of making people smile.

She also didn’t look at Clara with pity, even when she knew Rose must have caught a glimpse of her dead soulmark at some point.

Clara rather hoped she’d see her again soon. She reached across the bed and rested a hand on the side that had once been Danny’s and, for once, the sadness didn’t overwhelm her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so um, I'm back? Also this was supposed to be only two chapters but i'm not done yet so... there will be more. Oops?
> 
> (also i promise this will be happier soon)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @ the person who wanted some slow burn: i got u fam.
> 
> (aka this fic is getting away from me, i have no idea how many chapters it's going to be at this point)

Rose lasted less than a week before deciding to go see Clara again. She texted her mum on Thursday that she would pick Tony up from school. She fussed over her outfit and her hair for a few minutes longer than normal and then headed out the door.

She walked into the school with two coffees in hand a few minutes after dismissal and leaned against the doorway of Clara’s classroom, watching as the teacher helped her brother with something. Tony saw her first.

“Rose!” he yelled before taking off across the room at a run to attach himself to her legs in a fierce hug. “You never pick me up.”

“Well, I thought we could have some bonding time, yeah? If you promise not to tell mum, we can have ice cream before dinner and everything.”

Tony grinned and held out a pinky, just like she’d taught him. Rose set down one of the coffees and crouched down. She solemnly linked her pinky with his to seal the promise.

“Can we go now?”

“Looks like you still need to get your things together, little monkey. And I want to talk to Ms. Oswald for a minute.”

He nodded and then headed back over to put things in his backpack. Rose stood back up and reclaimed the coffees. When she caught Clara’s gaze, she was smiling at Rose.

“If one of those is for me, you’re officially my favorite person today,” Clara said.

“Lucky for me, one of them is,” Rose said. “I didn’t know what you drink so I have a vanilla latte and a mocha. Figured one of them would be acceptable.”

“Vanilla for me,” Clara said.

“Perfect, I was hoping I’d get to drink this mocha.” Rose handed Clara the to-go cup of coffee. “Figured you could use caffeine after dealing with rascals like this one all day.”

Rose ruffled Tony’s hair.

Clara laughed. “You’re right about that. Tony’s always great though.”

“You save all your mischief for home, then?” Rose asked, nudging her brother.

He shot her another grin, the twinkle in his eye saying it all.

Clara couldn’t help but smile at the easy way the siblings interacted despite the large age gap.

“Were you the same way?” Clara asked curiously.

“Oh, I was all over trouble,” Rose said. “Wasn’t a particularly good student or any of that. Managed to get the school choir to go on strike once. The administration wasn’t pleased with that stunt to say the least.”

Clara laughed. “Sounds like Tony has a lot to live up to.”

Rose’s answering smile was all sparkling mirth. “I’m sure he’ll more than live up to the Tyler reputation for mischief. Just be glad you have him in class before he grows into it.”

Clara raised an eyebrow. “Oh, I think I could handle a bit of Tyler mischief.”

Her brain caught up with her mouth a second too late and she realized she was actually halfway flirting with Rose Tyler. Clara’s heart started pounding and her mouth went dry. She hadn’t flirted with anyone since Danny.

She took a gulp of her coffee to try and hide her panic.

Rose laughed. “I’m sure you could.”

She paused for a moment and Clara wished her heart would slow down so she could stop acting like an idiot for just a short time. She could overanalyze all of this later. In private.

“I just wanted to say thanks for coming to the party last weekend,” Rose said. “I had more fun than I normally do at those things with you there.”

“My pleasure,” Clara said. “Don’t have a whole lot of opportunities to get all decked out. It was fun.”

Rose smiled, a small quiet thing this time. “Well, we should get going so we can get ice cream before my mum gets suspicious. I’ll see you later.”

Clara bid the Tyler siblings goodbye and watched until they were out of her classroom. Once she could no longer hear Tony chattering away she collapsed into her chair and put her head down on her desk.

What the hell was she thinking, flirting with Rose like that? She hadn’t meant to but Rose hadn’t seemed to mind either.

It had been over two years. Close to three, now.

Clara bit her lip and sat up. She drummed her fingers against the lid of the coffee Rose had brought her.

The woman made Clara smile, made her laugh. She rather thought Danny would want her to find some happiness even though he was gone. He’d always loved seeing her smile.

Clara couldn’t remember if she’d caught a glimpse of Rose’s wrists, if she had a soulmate or not. Regardless of that, she could definitely strike up a friendship with her. If some flirting happened to be included in that friendship, Clara thought she could very well be happy with that.

Just because the universe had taken away her soulmate didn’t mean she couldn’t carve out a different kind of happiness with someone else and it was damn well time that she at least started living a little again.

With that decision made, she felt lighter, like some of the weight she’d been carrying on her shoulders had been lifted. Clara picked up her coffee and took another sip before starting her end of the day work. 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Rose picked up Tony the next Thursday too. And the one after that. She brought Clara coffee each time, making a game out of it. She always had whatever coffee Clara had picked last week and something new to see what she’d pick.

So far it had always been the vanilla latte.

Rose greeted Tony and Clara and felt her stomach flutter at the smile the teacher gave her. She barely resisted pressing her fingers against the words on her hip that seemed to pulse with life whenever she was in Clara’s presence.

“So,” Rose said as she handed over the vanilla latte, “would you like to get coffee sometime outside of your classroom sometime? I’ve already revealed that my weekends are less than exciting and getting out of my flat would be nice.”

Clara’s fingers brushed against Rose’s and Rose felt sparks run up her arm.

“I’d like that. My weekends are also pretty boring, like I said before.” She took a sip of coffee. “Why don’t you give me your number and we can see if sometime this weekend works.”

“Perfect.”

When Rose escorted Tony out of the classroom, she had a smile on her face and something that felt a little like hope blooming in the center of her chest. She’d left her phone number, scrawled on a piece of paper that had been lying about, in Clara’s hand.

She really hoped that the teacher would text her.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Clara loitered just outside the door of the coffee shop she was meeting Rose at. She was fifteen minutes early and she couldn’t decide if she should go inside and order her coffee or wait outside.

She tugged on her dress and resituated the strap of her bag. She waited another minute and then dug her phone back out so she could text Rose.

She was halfway through typing the message when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

Clara whipped her head up to look and was greeted with a big smile from none other than the person she was waiting for.

“Glad I’m not the only early one,” Rose said. “Ready to go in?”

“Of course,” Clara said, putting her phone back in her bag.

Rose laughed when Clara still ordered a vanilla latte and then insisted on paying for both of them.

(“Heiress, remember?” she said with a wink to Clara as she swiped her card.)

Once they had their drinks, they found an empty table and sat down.

“So…” Clara started, fidgeting with the cup of coffee now. “I guess I never asked before, but what do you do? You don’t seem the type to just sit around on your arse because you’re rich.”

“I’d go crazy within a week,” Rose said. “Do you know what Torchwood is?”

“Big security and research firm backed by the government. Deals with all the weird extraterrestrial stuff that happens,” Clara rattled off. “You work there?”

“Yeah. I want to be a field agent but my dad runs it so I only get to work in an advisory capacity but I enjoy it.”

“Your dad runs Torchwood  _ and _ Vitex?”

“Yeah. Mostly Vitex is run by other people now, but he’s still nominally in charge since he created it. Torchwood is really where his attention is.”

“I really should have googled you or your family at some point,” Clara said. She really didn’t know much about the Tylers but she felt like she should.

Rose winced. “Just don’t judge me if you do. I did some stupid things when there was paparazzi around to document it.”

“They follow you around?”

“Not anymore. They’ve decided I’m boring now which is a relief.”

“Well, I’m glad no one was around taking photos when I was busy being young and stupid,” Clara declared. “That must’ve been miserable.”

“It was. Especially when they decided to try and get some shots of my wrists because there was some stupid rumor about me getting ready to flee the country with my criminal soulmate,” Rose said with a roll of her eyes.

Clara was appalled. “What the hell?”

“Tabloids are the worst. Had to take go to court because I decked a photographer in the face when he grabbed me and tried to push my sleeves up so his partner could get the picture.”

“Oh my god, I hope you broke his nose at the very least.”

Rose’s grin was a bit wicked and Clara couldn’t look away. “Oh, I did.”

“I’m guessing they didn’t get the photo they were looking for.”

“Nah. Don’t even know how that rumor got started, honestly.”

Clara took a sip of her drink and tried to seem like she wasn’t interested in the answer to her next question. “So, no criminal soulmate for you?”

Rose rolled up her sleeves and showed her blank wrists to her. “Maybe in the future,” she said. “I’m hoping they’re at least a competent criminal.”

Clara sent the conversation spinning in a different direction but she couldn’t help replaying the look in Rose’s eyes when she’d talked about her unknown soulmate. It was something like pain, something like loneliness. She thought back to when she’d first met Rose and how she thought she’d been lonely then, too.

Clara wondered if the loneliness was different when you just didn’t know your soulmate as opposed to what she felt after losing her soulmate.

She was also very appreciative that Rose didn’t pry into Clara’s own fading soulmark even when the topic of soulmates was on the table. Not many people were that considerate.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Rose and Clara parted ways after about an hour, promising to get together again soon. 

Rose’s mind was whirling. She hadn’t  _ exactly _ lied to Clara but she had led the other woman to believe that she hadn’t gotten her soulmark yet. She should have just told Clara that she had one of the unrequited marks without saying who it was.

_ Should have. Should have. Should have. _

Too late now, though.

Rose pushed down the guilt and focused instead on how wonderful it was to spend time with Clara without a crowd of people or a little brother around. She was witty and clever and nice and even if the writing on her hip wasn’t there, Rose knew she’d be smitten.

As it stood, she was dangerously close to falling head over heels in love with Clara and she didn’t think she was going to be able to stop it from happening.

She was going to try her hardest to be the friend Clara deserved though, more-than-platonic feelings be damned. Hopefully what Clara didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.


End file.
